It's rained alot here over the last week or so, and I could hear some water sloshing around (the back) while I was driving the seven. So when I got home I started poking around the hatch area. After I was convinced the hatch was totally dry I decided to test the hatch drains so I'm pouring water down the drain holes and it's going down but nothings comes out. By now I'm thinking WTF so I stick my hand down the area where the drain tube goes and I feel it's all wet. Obviously I'm thinking this isn't good so I poke around under the car to see if the drain is somehow plugged and I can't find it. I did spot the drain plug so being the genius that I am I decide to remove it (while looking straight at it) and suddenly I have all this water hitting me right in the face. Anyhow I repeated the procedure on the other side (same results). I'm thinking the water collected in that spot because the drain tubes were moved somewhere where they shouldn't be. If somebody could let me know were the tubes should go or show a picture of were the water drains from so I could move them accordingly it would be greatly appreciated.

Luis

 

tubes exit under the bumper on each side at the back. You'll see the holes. I advise you to pull the drain plugs on:
-each inner fender behind each rear wheel. These are on the INside facing the center
-in the spare tire well
then dry these compartments thoroughly (hair drier?) - as this is the no. one rust area in RX7s

Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

Left side drain exit. Right side drain tube. Opposite sides are similar.

 

I had the same sloshing problem with mine... I moved the tubes to under the bumper through the correct holes now.
Problem is, my car is at the body shop now getting re-painted and this area is the ONLY area that has rust in it. The rear fender wells are literally trying to rust from the inside out!!!

 

got me thinking ..... where does the moonroof drain tubes on each side go to .... same place ?

 

moonroof drains go out the louvers on the side of the car by the rear side windows.

 

The rusting out right rear lower quarter panel is the result of the drain tubes being routed incorrectly from the factoiry IMHO. Back in the late 80s I had to change out my power antenna (80 GS) and when I pulled the rear light to get at it I notice two things; water and rust in the lower rear quarter and a some drain tubes just dangling into the space.

I rerouted the hatch drain thru the to the rear bumber area just like the previous pics show and I made sure the drain tube for the power antenna was routed safely as well.

Fast forward 20 years and the only thing keeping my right rear lower quarter whole is the waxinol (sp?) under the paint that was applied to help protect the lower rockers from wear. Theres a fist size area that I could probably punch out with my fingers if I wanted to. The rest of the car has very little, if any rust except for this. Kinda disappointing really. Maybe someday I'll have it fixed, but its major surgery at this point to get it done right.

 

Moon roof drains exit inside the cabin air exit vent, next to the hatch, behind each side window. You have to remove the interior panels and headliner to see the tubes. Pour some water into un-clogged roof drains and you'll see it drain out of these vents.

 

I have the same rust in the rear quarter but my drains have always been routed right. My car has no other rust on it.

 

Thanks for the replies and the pictures, I definitely think the tubes are routed wrong because everytime I add fresh water it comes out of the drain hole. I'll take a look under the bumper this afternoon. The car is now stored in the garage for the winter so I guess it's time to go rust hunting...

 

If you smoke or have a smoker friend, you can also have them blow some smoke into the tube and look for where it comes out...

 

Well I just wanted to thank everybody for their input and pictures, I just re-routed the drain hoses to where they're supposed to go (couldn't have done it without the photos) so now that everything is draining properly I'm just going to wait a week or so for the water inside the quarters to drain before doing some damage control and putting the drainplugs back in.

Luis